I've been doing a lot of math education in the past few years with 0-6 year olds. We encourage the use of words to describe location and placement ... up down next to under behind higher far near through in... etc etc. Kids who learn these concepts at a young age perform way better in mathematics years later, not even just on spatial tests but on non-spatial as well (see "Big, Little, Tall and Tiny: Learning Spatial Terms Improves Children’s Spatial Skills, Science Daily (Nov. 9, 2011)) Using language with young kids is one of the best and easiest ways to boost their early learning, and I believe it has to do with chunking concepts together into a word and then our brains can think using that word and save a whole lot of energy. No word for something and it is just too costly to think about.

With one group of 4-5 year olds we taught them to name patterns, an AB-pattern for example to describe a simple alternating pattern like red-blue-red-blue-red-blue, etc. Their teacher was sceptical that learning to name a pattern would be meaningful for so young a child. The next week he came to us with his mouth agape -- saying these kids were seeing patterns everywhere and naming them. One boy made a tower from cups stacked upright and upside down. "Look!" he said. "I made an AB-pattern!"

I think when we have names for concepts, we are much easier able to think about them. I think I do a lot of my reasoning verbally, I talk inside my head and can hear myself. (Interesting aside: I very often think in Norwegian now, and some concepts are difficult for me to think about in English).

It makes sense to me that having more words for colors make it easier to think about colors. Having more words about anything makes it easier to think about those things.

Language and the brain... cool stuff.